Social media – a powerful partner when selling your home

Social media is a great way to keep up with friends and a welcome distraction during the work week lunch break. It’s also a valuable marketing tool – for businesses and even when selling your home.

While viral marketing and well-funded projects tend to get a lot of attention, you don’t have to develop an extravagant campaign in order for social media to be effective when selling a home.

Begin with goals regarding what social media you plan to use and who you want to reach. Then consider these simple ways to gain exposure for your home.

Create a blog.
Whether you’re working on a renovation project or moving in three weeks, creative blogs with photos, decorative ideas and information about the area, school system, etc., can get potential buyers engaged and spread the word about your sale. Share your blog on Facebook, Twitter and via email to friends and family.

Create a virtual tour.
Creating videos used to be left to professionals, but in a new age of social media and easily accessible technology, virtual tours of your home are something you can easily create yourself. Showcase your home’s best qualities, edit with simple apps and upload to YouTube. Share your videos on your blog and other social media channels.

Post Facebook updates and ask friends and family to share.
Create a Facebook page for your house. Post content from your blog and YouTube sites on this page. Share the page on your own personal sites and ask your friends to like it. If you feel comfortable, ask others to share your page. This can easily provide thousands of viewers for your content. Feel free to share your home’s page on your personal page about once a week. More frequent sharing should be approached carefully, as too often could cause friends or follows to unsubscribe to your updates.

Hashtag it.
Take advantage of the hashtag. Develop a related hashtag for your house sale. Tag all of your content with it, and use it when you post on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Use keywords.Find keywords for your intended audience with tools such as Google AdWords. These, along with repetition and links on social media, including your blog, will help you increase your rank in general search results.

Because most buyers visit homes in person before making any decisions, it’s somewhat difficult to calculate the exact impact social media has on home sales. However, realtors and sellers alike have estimated up to 25 percent of homes sell from traffic initially created by social media. So, put those social media marketing tools to work for your home!